Nebraska Wesleyan’s football team rose to 13th in the latest NAIA Rating, released Monday by the national office, setting up a homecoming clash between the No. 13 Prairie Wolves and the No. 1-ranked team this Saturday at Abel Stadium in Lincoln. Their opponent, the University of Sioux Falls, is the defending NAIA Champion. The Cougars remained atop the Top 25 poll for a fifth consecutive week after going 14-0 in 2006.

To view the latest NAIA rating, click here.

Nebraska Wesleyan (3-1) hosts Sioux Falls (5-0) as a part of homecoming festivities this weekend, with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday. NWU’s only loss so far this season was 13-12 in the season opener to Northwestern College (Iowa), a team which lost to Sioux Falls 44-20 on Sept. 15 and is currently ranked No. 9.

THE HISTORY: A win against the Cougars would be a major step toward Nebraska Wesleyan’s first playoff berth since 2000. The Prairie Wolves are 2-11 all-time against Sioux Falls, which has won five Great Plains Athletic Conference titles since joining the league in 2000. NWU’s last victory in the series was 10-6 at Abel Stadium on Nov. 6, 1999. Nebraska Wesleyan has not been ranked this highly in the NAIA poll since reaching No. 13 on Sept. 11, 2001. USF defeated the Prairie Wolves 52-0 last year in Sioux Falls.